Private First Class Bradley Manning for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize
It has been well over a year since Private Bradley Manning was arrested on suspicion of passing information to the whistle blower website Wikileaks. On February 1, 2012, Manning was nominated for the Nobel Peace Price by the entire parliamentary group of The Movement of the Icelandic Parliament. They nominated him reasoning that he was an individual who helped to bring peace to the world.
In a statement sent to the Nobel Peace committee, the Parliament stated,
The leaked documents pointed to a long history of corruption, war crimes, and imperialism by the United States government in international dealings. These revelations have fueled democratic uprising around the world, including a democratic revolution in Tunisia. According to journalists, his alleged actions helped motivate the democratic Arab Spring movements, shed light on secret corporate influence on our foreign policies, and most recently contributed to the Obama Administration agreeing to withdraw all U.S.troops from the occupation in Iraq.
Manning has yet to have a trial date set, and for the first ten months into his incarceration, he was in solitary confinement. This has brought scrutiny on the United States from other countries who believe this is cruel and unusual punishment.
The Parliament also feels that what was leaked should have never been kept a secret in the first place. They also point out how the release of these documents has led to many countries debating the importance of the United States’ standings in overseas countries.
They concluded by saying, “Citizens worldwide owe a great debt to the WikiLeaks whistleblower for shedding light on these issues, and so I urge the Committee to award this prestigious prize to accused whistleblower Bradley Manning.”
A preliminary hearing was started on December 16, 2011 at Fort Meade, Maryland. During this hearing, the presiding officer recommended a court martial. This resulted in the commanding general of the Military District of Washington recommending Manning stand trial at a court martial.
Although many people and countries including the Amnesty International believe that Manning has been treated harshly, all that has resulted is Manning being moved to Fort Levenworth, Kansas, so he can interact with other prisoners who are awaiting a trial date. According to the website made to help get awareness to the public and get Manning released, bradleymanning.org, his case was formally referred for a court martial on Feb. 2. This is a great injustice to many people that have been following his case.
